Pirates director may have a Secret Life

As the trailer for his new animated movie Rango sprang onto the web recently,director Gore Verbinski entered negotiations with Fox to take the helm of the studio’s long-in-development adaptation of The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty. Verbinski has strong momentum coming out of the three Pirates Of The Caribbean movies and The Ring,which together grossed $2.9 billion worldwide.

The Mitty project,which derives from James Thurber’s classic 1939 short story,has — like Thurber’s The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button before it — passed through the hands of many writers,actors and directors piqued by the inventive possibilities.
Thurber’s story,previously filmed in 1947,centers on a man who escapes his unexciting daily life by delving into elaborate daydreams in which he is suddenly a heroic character. That Johnny Depp has now starred for Verbinski four times (including the March release of Rango) raises the intriguing possibility that he could step into Mitty’s flighty shoes.